This invention relates generally to methods and systems for conducting identification matching, and more particularly, to methods and systems for conducting biometric 1:N identification matching.
Biometric fusion combines a plurality of biometric samples, of the same or different biometric modality, to yield higher accuracy and lower false accept rates during matching in 1:N biometric matching systems. Known biometric fusion techniques include parallel fusion and cascade fusion. Parallel fusion techniques generally involve score-level fusion of individual biometric scores into a single composite score. However, known parallel fusion techniques always require biometric data for each modality to be matched.
Cascade fusion techniques generally execute a series of algorithms such that a subsequent algorithm is executed against candidate matches determined by a previous algorithm. However, cascade fusion assumes that every candidate always includes all the biometric modalities. However, it is rare for all members of a given population to be able to provide all biometric modalities required by either parallel or cascade fusion techniques. For example, amputees may not be able to provide finger biometric data samples. Furthermore, when using data from legacy systems to conduct 1:N identity matching, the legacy data may not include all the biometric data required by parallel and cascade fusion systems.
Known biometric matching systems fail to separate a matching coordinator system for an overall population from the provisioning of the matching systems. Thus, using known biometric matching systems, it is difficult, time consuming and expensive to apply certain matching algorithms to data from specific groups of individuals within the overall population. Consequently, it appears that separating the matching coordinator system operations from the matching systems may facilitate easier application of certain matching algorithms against data from specific groups of individuals, and may thereby reduce associated time and costs.